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Collaboration and Leadership Reflection Video: Transcript

Student Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX 4010: Leading People, Processes and Organizations in Interprofessional Practice

Erica Elkins-Little

April, 2020
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Good morning everyone. My name is Nelly Okoro and welcome to my Collaboration and

Leadership Reflection video for Nursing 4010: Leading People, Processes and Organizations

in Interprofessional Practice.

During this video, I plan to:

 Reflect on an interdisciplinary collaboration experience, noting ways in which it was

successful and unsuccessful in achieving desired outcomes

 Identify how poor collaboration can result in inefficient management of human and

financial resources, supported by evidence from the literature

 Identify the best-practice leadership strategies from the literature that would improve

and interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals

 Identify best-practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to help a team to

achieve its goals and work together more effectively

Background

The experience I will share tells the story of the daily interdisciplinary collaboration

for me as a registered nurse. I currently work in the emergency department and I get to

experience every day on how interdisciplinary collaboration works among nurses, doctors,

pharmacists, and even the lab technicians. The experience I’m sharing explains the benefits

of having an interdisciplinary collaboration with other health care practitioners. Working in

the emergency department, as a nurse, I get to treat and administer medication to various

patients.

I remember an incident where one patient came into the ER and she had an ear

infection and another patient was also rushed to the hospital with a wound infection from a

cut that had not healed well. Both patients were diagnosed by the same doctor and the

recommended drug to be administered to both patients was penicillin to treat the bacterial
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infections. Coincidentally, both patients were name Elizabeth with and also had a similar last

name however one was two years older than the other. As a registered nurse one of my duties

is to take medical history of patients and during this process I found out that the older

Elizabeth was allergic to Penicillin and this was the recommended drug to treat the infection.

I immediately rushed to the doctor, informed him of this information in order to change the

medication to prevent any adverse effects that might have been caused by administering

penicillin to an allergic patient. The patients blood work was also sent to the lab to also test

for any allergies and an appropriate medication was administered to the patient.

The interdisciplinary collaboration of working with nurses, doctors and the lab in this

case saved the patient’s life and overall received better care. From this example it is clear to

state that enhancing collaboration between healthcare providers should be considered an

important strategy for promoting patient safety, and interdisciplinary collaboration is critical

for achieving better patient outcomes.

How Poor Collaboration Can Result in Inefficient Management of Human and

Financial Resources.

Poor collaboration can have a significant impact on the efficient management of

human and financial resources in an organization. For example Vatn & Dahl, (2022) in their

study found that poor collaboration often leads to duplication of efforts, where different

departments or teams end up working on the same task without coordination. This duplication

of efforts wastes time, money, and resources that could have been better utilized elsewhere.

Similarly, when teams or departments do not communicate effectively, it can lead to

misunderstandings, delays, and errors. This lack of communication can cause delays in

decision-making, missed deadlines, and ultimately lead to increased costs. Finally, Vatn &

Dahl,(2022) also found that poor collaboration can also result in inefficient resource
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allocation, where resources are not allocated based on priorities or needs. For example, health

professionals from different departments treating the same patient without coordination, they

may end diagnosing the same illness and recommending the same drug therefore, resulting in

wasting resources.

Identify the best-practice leadership strategies from the literature that would

improve an interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals

Interdisciplinary teams can be challenging to lead as they bring together individuals

from different disciplines, each with their own perspectives, knowledge, and expertise. The

main goal for having an interdisciplinary team is to provide quality patient care with a safe

outcome and promote patient satisfaction. Therefore, there are some leadership strategies that

(Smith et al., 2018) recommends that can be utilized to improve an interdisciplinary team's

ability to achieve its goals and they include;

 Setting clear goals: According to Smith et al., (2018) the team leader should

establish clear and measurable goals for the interdisciplinary team to achieve.

These goals should be communicated effectively to all team members, and

everyone should have a shared understanding of the team's purpose and

objectives.

 Encourage communication: The author states that effective communication is

essential for an interdisciplinary team to work collaboratively towards

achieving its goals. The team leader should encourage open communication

and create an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their

ideas, concerns, and feedback.

 Teamwork: Team work is not a natural phenomenon Lyubovnikova et al.,

(2015). As a result, the team leader must devote time to team-building

activities such as setting expectations for working together and creating a

climate of mutual respect. The team's cohesion and interpersonal skills should

be developed by the leader through interdisciplinary collaboration and group

reflection on their respective practices.

 Foster Trust: Smith et al., (2018) states that for an interdisciplinary team to

function well, trust must be fostered. The team leader should foster a trusting

environment in which team members feel appreciated, respected, and

supported. In addition, the leader should establish a culture of transparency

and accountability.

Identify Best-Practice Interdisciplinary Collaboration Strategies to Help a Team to

Achieve its Goals and Work Together More Effectively

In health institutions, interprofessional collaboration is a complex process. Effective

interdisciplinary collaboration is closely linked to a working environment characterized by a

flat structure, where the various professions can contribute their views on patient treatment

equally without fear of criticism (Tan et al., 2017). There are strategies to help a team best

achieve its goals by working together more effectively. These strategies include; embrace a

culture of learning. Interdisciplinary collaboration offers an opportunity to learn from others

and expand an individual’s knowledge and expertise. By encouraging a culture of learning

and professional development, team members are encouraged to learn from one another and

seek out new opportunities for growth. Another strategy is recognizing that the members may

have different perspectives, expertise, and backgrounds. Team leaders should encourage all

team members to share their thoughts and ideas and consider different viewpoints when

making decisions (Bosch & Mansell, 2015).

Conclusion
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In conclusion, this experience has taught me a lot about myself. I was delighted I had

a fantastic interdisciplinary team to work with. Without their collaboration, the patient in this

scenario could have experienced serious side effects from the recommended drug for treating

their infection. This experience has taught me the importance of collaboration and the crucial

role of leadership in the healthcare organization.

References

Bosch, B., & Mansell, H. (2015). Interprofessional collaboration in health care: Lessons to be

learned from competitive sports. Canadian Pharmacists Journal / Revue Des

Pharmaciens Du Canada, 148(4), 176–179.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1715163515588106

Lyubovnikova, J., West, M. A., Dawson, J. F., & Carter, M. R. (2015). 24-Karat or fool’s

gold? Consequences of real team and co-acting group membership in healthcare

organizations. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 24(6),

929–950. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2014.992421

Smith, T., Fowler-Davis, S., Nancarrow, S., Ariss, S. M. B., & Enderby, P. (2018).

Leadership in interprofessional health and social care teams: A literature review.

Leadership in Health Services, 31(4), 452–467. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-06-2016-

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Tan, T.-C., Zhou, H., & Kelly, M. (2017). Nurse-physician communication—An integrated

review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 26(23–24), 3974–3989.

https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13832

Vatn, L., & Dahl, B. M. (2022). Interprofessional collaboration between nurses and doctors

for treating patients in surgical wards. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 36(2), 186–

194. https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2021.1890703
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how poor collaboration can